


can i try again?

by iwasfollowingyou



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Accidental Kissing, Finn is Bi, First Kiss, Fluff, Force-Sensitive Finn (Star Wars), Gay Poe Dameron, Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, Post-Canon, Self-Indulgent, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers, The Force, i wrote most of this at 4am, thank you oscar isaac for giving me my rights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:09:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21874945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwasfollowingyou/pseuds/iwasfollowingyou
Summary: Poe laughs and shakes his head. There’s a beat of silence. Suddenly, the noise around them is muted, as if someone just dunked Finn’s head underwater.Suddenly, Poe’s lips are against his.There’s an explosion behind Finn’s eyelids, and his blood rushes in his ears. Poe’s lips are firm, grounding Finn’s thoughts to what’s right in front of him, and then they’re gone.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Finn
Comments: 34
Kudos: 969





	can i try again?

“Poe _Dameron!_ ”

They collide in front of the X-wing, Poe’s arms finding their now familiar place around Finn, and Finn is thrown off balance for a moment before he finds his footing and tightens his grip around Poe. The adrenaline is still coursing through his veins, and his heart is pounding so hard that he thinks Poe can probably feel it. The base has erupted around them, people running back and forth between ships and each other, cheers and whistles and crying.

“We did it, buddy,” Poe says quietly, squeezing Finn’s shoulders. He sounds exhausted, but his eyes are bright and there’s a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

“You did it, General,” Finn responds, grinning.

Poe laughs and shakes his head. There’s a beat of silence. Suddenly, the noise around them is muted, as if someone just dunked Finn’s head underwater. 

Suddenly, Poe’s lips are against his.

There’s an explosion behind Finn’s eyelids, and his blood rushes in his ears. Poe’s lips are firm, grounding Finn’s thoughts to what’s right in front of him, and then they’re gone. 

They stare are each other, eyes wide. Finn quickly steps back, and Poe clears his throat. They each run a hand through their hair. Finn averts his gaze. His lips are tingling.

“Uh, we should probably—"

“Find Rey,” Poe finishes for him.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

Poe turns away, and they search the crowd for any sign of her. Finn brings his hand up and touches his fingertips to his lips, then quickly yanks his hand away as Poe glances back at him. An X-wing just landed; Finn can hear the engines shutting down, and Poe shoves at his arm. Finn meets Rey’s eyes across the crowd. They all three sprint towards each other, ground pounding underneath Finn’s feet, the distance between them seeming to stretch farther with every step he takes.

Finn gets to her first and pulls her into his chest, followed quickly by Poe reaching around the other side of Rey and nudging Finn’s arm out of the way so he can hug her properly.

He doesn’t know how long they stand like that. All he knows is that Rey is trembling against him and Poe’s shoulders are shaking and there are tears falling down his own cheeks. All he knows is that they’re _alive_.

None of them quite knows what to say when they pull back. Finn’s entire body is sparking with electricity. He reaches up to touch his fingertips to his lips again before he realizes what he’s doing. His eyes drift towards Poe, then quickly snap back to Rey as soon as Poe turns his head.

“We did it,” Rey says, eyes fixed on Finn’s. Her voice breaks, but her gaze is hard and defiant. “Finn, we—" He nods and pulls her in again, and they hide their faces against each other’s necks and take deep, slow breaths.

_We did it._

* * *

The chaos, for the most part, finally dies down a week or so after the First Order falls. Rey has spent most of that time in the med bay, asleep or doing stretches and light exercises with the medics. Poe has spent it ordering his commanders around, making sure every ship and soldier is attended to, then sending them out to attend to other planets. Finn jumps between, helping out when he can with repairs and plans and mapping out routes.

People keep calling him _General_. He can’t help but feel a little proud. (Though, he notes oddly, not quite as proud as when someone mentions General Dameron).

It’s midday, and strangely quiet. He spent the morning working on the Falcon with Lando and Chewie, but their work has stalled for a bit while they wait for a part to come in. All of the units have gone out for the day, so there’s no one to direct anywhere. Rey is off doing whatever it is she does when she disappears into the forest for a few hours. Lifting rocks or something. (She says she’ll teach him, if he wants to learn. In a few weeks, once they’ve all recovered).

Poe’s quarters are small but comfortable. He’s got things strewn around everywhere, half packed to move into the more spacious general’s quarters. It looks like a windstorm has whipped through the room, with all of the spare parts and clothes scattered around.

“How’s that feel?” Poe is asking BB-8 as he pokes at some wires. BB-8 chirps in response. “Good.”

There’s a few more beeps from the droid, and Poe glances over his shoulder.

“Hey, General,” he says. Finn’s cheeks go warm.

“Hi.”

Finn pushes a few gears and screwdrivers to the side to clear a space to sit down on the edge of Poe’s mattress. Poe whistles quietly as he tinkers with BB-8’s wires.

Finn clears his throat. “So.”

“So?” Poe doesn’t look up.

“I wanted to, uh... I’m sorry.” He rubs the back of his neck. “For what happened the other day.”

Poe’s movement stops briefly, then starts again. BB-8 chirps quietly. “What are you talking about?”

“After the battle. when I—when I kissed you.”

Poe finishes whatever he was doing and replaces the panel. The droid chitters happily and rolls back and forth a few times.

“That’s funny,” Poe says. “I thought _I_ was the one who kissed _you_.”

His heart skips a beat. Poe’s tone is casual, but Poe’s tone is always casual (except when he’s mad, but he never gets mad at Finn), so it’s hard to gauge what he’s actually feeling without seeing his face. Finn waits a moment, hoping there will be some form of clarification, but none comes, as if Poe is waiting for him to say something.

The seconds stretch into hours. It feels like the air around them is vibrating with anticipation, or maybe that’s just Finn. 

“I don’t remember, actually.” He’s being honest, at least. He prays that Poe will respond the way he thinks—the way he hopes—he will.

He does.

“Maybe we should try it again. See what feels right.”

Finn’s mouth goes dry. It seems like it takes an eternity for Poe to put his tools down and stand up. BB-8 sends off a few more beeps before he zooms out of the room, and Finn would laugh if he wasn’t so tense. Poe comes to stand in front of him.

They stare at each other for a minute.

Then Poe grabs the back of Finn’s neck and leans in and kisses him slowly, gently, as if he’s worried Finn will turn to dust as he touches him.

Poe’s lips are soft. They tasted like iron before, in front of the X-wing, like blood and sweat and battle. Now they taste slightly minty, as if he’s just brushed his teeth, and Finn catches himself wondering if maybe Poe was _planning_ this, and then Poe pulls away.

Finn opens his eyes to see Poe smiling like an idiot. He knows the expression mirrors his own.

“I don’t know if that was right,” he says. “Let me try.”

He grabs Poe’s shirt collar and pulls him down for another one, firmer and more purposeful than the first. Poe’s grip tightens on the back of his neck, trying to grab hold of Finn’s hair where it’s too short, and Finn laughs into the kiss.

Poe blindly reaches to the side and shoves the rest of the things on the bed out of the way. There’s a clatter as tools and metal hit the floor, but it’s quickly forgotten about as Poe rolls over to pull Finn on top of him, and Finn doesn’t think there’s anything worth anything in the universe that isn’t Poe and Poe’s lips and Poe’s hand on the back of his neck.

They’re both breathless when they pull away. Poe’s head drops back down onto the pillow, and Finn rests his forehead against Poe’s. Poe’s breath is warm against his lips.

“Poe.”

“Finn.” There’s a smile in his voice.

Finn has always liked the way Poe says his name. The name Poe gave him, the blessing as soon as Finn escaped— _you’re not them. you’re human now. You’re with us._ Poe says it carefully, shaping the letters on his tongue, like he’s telling Finn a secret. Finn has always liked the way Poe says his name, but there’s something about the soft exhale that comes with it this time that sends a shock to Finn’s chest.

He kisses Poe again, for good measure. Poe kisses him back.

Poe’s bed isn’t quite big enough for two people to lay comfortably, but they make it work somehow. Finn is half holding himself up, half laying on top of Poe, but Poe doesn’t seem to mind the weight (if anything, he’s encouraging it, the way he’s gripping onto the back of Finn’s shirt and keeping him pressed against his body).

Poe keeps kissing him. Finn keeps kissing him back. He can’t remember who kissed who first, but he also doesn’t really care. Poe’s lips are soft against his, and he keeps muttering underneath his breath whenever Finn pulls away, and Finn can’t stop himself from kissing Poe again each time.

They finally break away, and Finn lays down on his back as best he can, his body still pressed right up against Poe’s.

“You’re—” Finn starts.

“What?”

“You’re not—”

“Finn, use your words,” he teases lightly.

“I thought you and Zorri...” Finn tries.

Poe laughs. “No. No way. _Ew_.” Finn looks at him with one eyebrow raised, and he clarifies, “It’s not like that. Never has been. She’s an old friend, yeah, but we’re not—no. We joke about it a lot, because we’re both—I’m not, you know.”

“Not what?”

“Into women.”

“At all?”

“Do you _want_ me to be?”

“No, I’m good with this.”

Poe smiles and hits his arm lightly. “What about you, stud? You’ve got half of the people on this base falling over themselves for you.”

He says it as if it’s obvious. Finn thinks he detects a hint of jealousy.

“I don’t know.” he shrugs. “I mean, I guess... I definitely didn’t mind when Rose kissed me, you know?”

He hasn’t given it much thought so far. It’s not a big deal to him. It just sort of _is_. In the First Order, they weren’t allowed to have those kinds of feelings (some stormtroopers still did, of course, but they were either incredibly discrete or they were sent off for reconditioning). He thought about it, what a relationship or a family might look like if he ever could have one, but it wasn’t the first thing on his mind.

Since he got out, he’s been trying to make sense of his feelings for Poe—whether they were just admiration for the guy who saved his life, or affection for someone who very quickly became one of his best friends, or something else. It’s a combination of it all, he thinks. Poe is a damn good pilot and a damn good man, entirely worthy of all the admiration and praise he receives. And he’s a good friend: loyal, and kind, and tough when he needs to be. But there’s something else there that wasn’t there for Rey or for Rose, as much as Finn loves them, too. He didn’t mind when Rose kissed him, but he wanted to kiss Poe. He wants to kiss Poe.

He kisses Poe again, because he can.

“What about Rey?” Poe asks.

“What about her?”

“I thought the two of you—”

It’s Finn’s turn to laugh. “No. Not like that.”

“But I thought—whatever you had to say to her, the thing you wouldn’t say around me?” There’s a hint of jealousy there again.

“No.” Finn shakes his head. “That was—” He clenches and unclenches his fist. “Whatever she has, with the Force, I think—I feel it, too. Not as strongly, but it’s, you know… there’s something there.”

Poe has gone still. “You’re a Jedi?”

“No. Not—not yet, at least.”

“What does it feel like?”

Finn closes his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. The feeling pushes at his chest. “Like… energy. Like the entire galaxy is sort of—sort of vibrating, almost? Like everything is surrounded by this force field or something.”

“Around everything?” Finn nods. “Around me?” He nods again. “Is it different? For different things?”

“Yeah. Living things feel different. I haven’t—I haven’t trained or anything, so I don’t know how much nuance there is, but yeah. Different.”

Poe is quiet for a moment. “What do I feel like?” It's quiet, as if he’s embarrassed to ask.

Finn rests his head against Poe’s shoulder and takes a breath. “Warm.”

“Warm?”

“Not temperature. Just… inviting. Calming. But there’s something else there, too. Something brighter underneath.”

Poe shivers, and Finn realizes that his hand has been resting on his stomach. He goes to pull it away, but Poe covers it with his own.

“Warm,” he repeats.

Finn nods. “Warm.” He opens his eyes to find Poe staring at him. He kisses him again, because he wants to and he can.

There’s a tap of metal against the doorframe and the telltale chirps of a certain droid. Poe pulls away, but not before pressing another kiss to the corner of Finn’s mouth. He untangles himself from Finn, hops down off the bed, and kneels in front of BB-8. Finn sits up and leans back against the wall.

“What’s up, buddy?” Poe asks.

Finn catches himself staring, but he doesn’t look away. He takes a minute to just _look_ at Poe, the way his shirt clings to his back and his arms, how his hair (still messy from the helmet he was wearing earlier while doing a run) flops over his forehead until he pushes it back out of the way, the curve of his lips as he talks quietly to the droid.

Poe turns his head and catches Finn’s eye. Finn’s cheeks warm as he’s caught staring, but Poe doesn’t seem weirded out. If anything, his chest puffs out a little.

“Rey’s looking for you.”

“She’s back?” He pulls his boots back on and stands.

They face each other for a moment, eyes locked.

“So—" Finn starts.

“We—" Poe says at the same time. They both stop, and laugh quietly, and Poe gestures for Finn to continue.

“I’ll see you tonight?”

“When?” There’s a slight smirk at the corner of Poe’s mouth, the light behind his eyes dancing playfully. 

“Whenever you can spare a moment, _General_.” He’d be lying if he said he didn’t like the way Poe seemed to a shiver a bit when he said it.

“I’ll come find you.” Poe winks. “General.”

BB-8 bumps into Poe’s legs and beeps loudly.

“He’s _going_. Chill.” Poe mutters something else that Finn doesn’t quite catch, then looks up at Finn again. “He says Rey needs you now.”

“Yeah.”

Finn clears his throat. Poe tilts his head and smiles lightly. “What?”

“Nothing.”

Poe steps forward and puts his hand on the back of Finn’s neck again. Finn’s whole body relaxes, all of the tension in his muscles leaving in one exhale. Poe’s thumb runs across his skin, sending shivers down his spine.

He kisses Finn, and Finn kisses him back.

BB-8 whistles angrily, and Poe pulls back. He briefly presses his forehead to Finn’s before stepping away.

“You should go.”

“I should.”

Finn kisses him once more.

“I’ll see you later.” He smiles and follows BB-8 out the door. When he looks back over his shoulder, Poe is standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe with a smile on his face. Finn salutes him, and Poe laughs and returns the gesture.

There’s a tug at his chest as he walks away, urging him to turn back and just hide away in Poe’s room for the rest of the day, but he pushes it away. They have all the time in the universe now. Whatever’s going to happen will happen, and Poe will be there waiting for him when it’s done.

**Author's Note:**

> my first star wars fic ö i saw tros last night and immediately started coming up with finnpoe fic ideas, because they're in love and no one can stop them. please leave kudos and comments if you liked this and follow me on tumblr @vaguelyprophetic


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